1. Traditional bullfighting is a brutal “sport,” often criticized by animal rights activists and advocates for being cruel and violent for the animals involved. Still, in places like Spain and Mexico, bullfighting remains popular, with matadors entertaining crowds by disabling and ultimately killing the bulls.

2. They have bull fights in Costa Rica, too – the progressive Central American country with no army and a great history of democracy and human rights – but they do things a little bit different. In fact, the bull is NEVER harmed, but chases down and doles out punishment on unarmed and defenseless human beings!

3. At fairs, festivals, and horse shows all over the small nation, which are called topes, bullfights, called Corridas de torros – or literally translated, “Running from the bulls,” are held all year but mostly in the holiday months of December, January, and February.

4. Costa Ricans also affectionately call bull fighting Toros a la Tica, or bulls of Costa Rica. The bulls may be the main event but fair goers also enjoy carnival rides, games, karaoke, makeshift bars and nightclubs, and tons of local foods and treats for the whole family.

5. Zapote is the most noted annual bull festival in the country, held in the capital of San Jose every December during the Christmas holiday. Bull festivals in Palmares, Limon on the Caribbean coast, Puntarenas, and in Guanacaste are also famous.

6. At most of these Corridas there are about ten bulls ridden and released into the ring each night. A brave (and nervous) montadore only makes about $30 for his effort. But for those who excel and endear the crowd, a lifetime of fame could be theirs!

7. The brave (or foolish) riders are called montadores – not matadors - and prepare by saddling onto the bulls in a tight pen beside the ring. The bulls are extra aggressive after not being fed for 24-hours prior to their ride and thanks to a rope tightly cinched around their midsection.

8. When the montadore yells “Puerta” (door) the pen door opens and the irate bull charges into the arena, bucking and thrashing to rid themselves of the rider who has only a rope and spurs to cling to. In this way, bullfights in Costa Rica are similar to professional rodeo in the United States: the rider is recognized for his effort and the amount of time he can stay on the bull. But that’s just the beginning of the festivities.

9. From there, the bull – called El Violador (the violator) - charges around the ring, going after the montadore and dozens of other young men and amateur participants who jump in the ring, all scrambling and sprinting for their lives!

10. The inclusion of amateur participants is always the most cheered tradition at the Corridas de torros. At the bigger shows in San Jose and the main cities, officials may make sure they aren’t drunk and require them to sign injury liability waivers, but in the smaller affairs in the provinces, it’s usually a potentially deadly case of caveat emptor.

11. The amateurs often spice up the proceedings and entertain crowds by wearing masks, capes, costumes, performing stunts like trying to flip or dive over a charging bull, touch it on the backside, or play games. In one such game, participants casually sit at a wooden table placed in the middle of the ring, calmly sipping their beers. As the ball charges, the trick is to see who has the biggest cojones by staying seated and cool the longest before the bull smashes into the table – or them.

12. Plenty of safety officials, medial personnel, and rodeo clowns called improvisados are on hand to aid the bull rider, distract charging bulls from defenseless prone participants, and even play games with the bull themselves.

13. Aside from paying the rider, there are often cash prizes offered by the festival organizers for the best and bravest performances in the ring.

14. Costa Rican tradition dictates they don’t harm bulls not just out of concern for the animal’s well being, but for a more practical reason: cattle was once the main source of income in many parts of the country, so they couldn’t afford to kill or maim a bull just for sport.

15. These days, it’s the riders and ring jumpers that are at risk. The Costa Rican newspaper La Nación reported that 257 people were injured in bullfights last year, with 67 hospitalizations. Deaths are also not uncommon, and recent cases have included drunk or unwise tourists who jumped in the ring and were gored to death.

16. Owning a top bull can be big bucks for breeders, who sometimes bring 300 of their biggest, baddest and meanest bulls to the festivals every year.

17. But no bull is more revered in Costa Rica than the legendary Malacrianza. Literally translated that means “Bad ass,” and Malacrianza definitely lives up the billing, weighing in at an immense 1,700 pounds and intimidating with his black and white speckled skin and colossal sweeping horns like a devil’s pitchfork.

18. Well-to-do rancher Ubaldo Rodríguez first discovered the most famous bull in Costa Rican history when he received him in a bulk purchase of livestock in 2003. This particular bull quickly proved he was way too ornery and aggressive for farm work, scaring and injuring the other animals and even ranch hands. So they brought the bull to the ring for a different purpose.

19. Malacrianza first burst into the national spotlight as an unknown in 2004, when his owner, Ubaldo Rodríguez, entered the unruly young bull at the festivals in Los Angeles de Nicoya in Guanacaste. Malacrianza proved to be equal parts vicious, graceful, and violent – winning over crowds instantly. He continued to impress and dominate at festivals around the country, earning nicknames like El Corazón de Garza (The Heart of Garza), Su Majestad (His Majesty), and the most popular nickname: El Toro Asesino (The Bull Assassin.)​20. Malacrianza soon lived up to his rapidly growing reputation, killing veteran rider Juan Carlos Cubillo in Guanacste Province in 2005 and then pro Jason Gómez, known as El Invisible, in 2006. Fighting for almost ten years when the typical bull only had a career of a few years, Malacrianz became the most dangerous bull in Costa Rica history, injuring countless riders.​***

​1. We know the iconic man as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but that was not his given birth name. In fact, MLK Jr. was Michael on his birth certificate, named after his father (hence the Jr.). But after a trip to Germany in 1931, Michael Sr. decided to change his name to Martin Luther to pay reverence to the historic German theologian of the same name. His son, Michael Jr., was only two years old at the time, so the elder King decided to change his son’s name, too. Thus, Michael King Jr. became Martin Luther King Jr., as we know him.

2. It was a tragic day for America and the human race when Dr. King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, but he wasn’t the only one who died at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis that day. In fact, Lorraine Bailey, a hotel worker and wife of the owner, passed away from a heart attack after hearing of King’s shooting. Lorraine was working the hotel phone switchboard at the time and suffered an incapacitating heart attack after seeing King shot, later dying from the coronary. Since there was no one else working the switchboard, that caused a long delay in calling an ambulance and getting King medical treatment, though it’s unclear if that would have helped him survive the shooting.

3. The fateful day in 1968 wasn’t King’s only brush with an assassination. A decade earlier on September 20, 1958, MLK was signing copies of his new book, Stride Toward Freedom, at a department store in Harlem when a female patron named Izola Ware Curr approached him and asked if he was indeed Martin Luther King Jr. King answered yes, at which she replied, “I’ve been looking for you for five years.” She then took out a seven-inch letter opener blade and plunged it into his chest. MLK was rushed to the hospital but the doctors couldn’t operate for three hours, as the tip of the blade was pressed against his aortic valve. When the blade was finally removed safely, the doctor told King that if he had even sneezed during those three hours, he could have ruptured the aorta and died instantly.

While recovering in the hospital, King reaffirmed his philosophies of non-violence and stated that he bore no ill will or anger towards the mentally ill Curr.

4. A young King was not only a born leader, but prolifically intelligent. In fact, King bypassed the 9th and 11th grades altogether, entering Moorehouse College at the tender age of 15 in 1944. He graduated with distinction by 19 with a degree in sociology, the first of many degrees and accomplishments in higher learning.

King attended graduate school at Boston University and earned his Ph.D. in systematic theology. He also attended divinity school and got a doctorate from Pennsylvania’s Crozer Theological Seminary at the age of 25.

5. Over his lifetime, Dr. King Jr. was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and a Medal of Freedom. But few know that he also won a Grammy Award in 1971 – out of context for a civil rights activist – for Best Spoken Word Album for “Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam”.

6. King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 at the age of 35, the youngest person to ever win the prominent award at the time. When the brave and inspirational Malala Yousafzai won the Peace Prize in 2014 at the age of 17, she became the youngest ever, a torch MLK would have been honored to pass down to her.

Winning the Nobel Peace Prize came with a sizable $54,123 payout (about $400,000 today). But instead of pocketing the money, King donated every penny to the Civil Rights Movement. During his acceptance speech, King During his acceptance speech, said, “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.”

7. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is now a national holiday observed on the third Monday in January. This year, it will fall on Monday, January 18, though his actual birthday was January 15, 1929.

8. Only two other people in American history have a national holiday commemorating their birthday, George Washington and Christopher Columbus. Therefore, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. the only native born American to have a national holiday honoring his birthday.

9. Congressman John Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan, introduced legislation for a holiday commemorating the deceased Dr. King only four days after his assassination. But getting Dr. King’s birthday approved as a national holiday was not an easy road by any means. The bill was repeatedly stalled, and Coretta Scott King, Stevie Wonder, Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-NY), President Jimmy Carter and other prominent politicians and Americans had to fight for it over the years, finally presenting 6,000,000 signatures to congress in 1982.

10. Finally, in 1983, Congress passed the bill and President Ronald Reagan officially signed legislation creating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a national holiday, despite opposition from Senators Jesse Helms (R-NC) and Gordon Humphrey (R-NH), who attempted to block it.11. But some states still resisted observing the holiday. As of January 16, 1989, only 44 states observed Dr. King’s birthday as a holiday. In 1992, Arizona finally approved the holiday only after a tourist boycott. In 1999, New Hampshire changed their Civil Rights Day to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and finally, Utah acquiesced in 2000, the last of all 50 states to observe.12. There are now more than 700 streets named after Martin Luther King Jr. all over the country, as well as plenty of schools, libraries, and other civic buildings.13. Over his career as a civil rights champion, Dr. King was arrested 29 times on record. He was often arrested and incarcerated on trumped up charges during his campaign of civil disobedience, a tactic used by local law enforcement and segregationists to try and scare Dr. King and dissuade the movement (it didn’t work.)14. Few people realize that on the fateful day Dr. King was shot on that motel balcony in Memphis, he was actually standing out there to smoke a cigarette. In fact, MLK was a regular smoker, though he always hid his habit and never appeared in a photo with a cigarette because he didn't want to set a bad example for his kids or to advocate or popularize smoking in any way. Before Dr. King was loaded into the ambulance after being shot that day, one his associates, Reverend Kyles, tossed away the fallen civil rights leader’s cigarette butts and removed the pack of smokes from his shirt pocket.15. King’s impact on the black community went far beyond the Civil Rights movement that caught the national attention. When Nichelle Nichols, a young black actress on a new sci-fi television program, wanted to quit after the first season amid harassment and threats, Dr. King, a fan of the show, encouraged and persuaded her to stick it out. She did, and became a pioneer in the industry, the first black television character portrayed as intelligent and capable, respected as an equal with her white actors and peers. (Up until then, black actors usually played maids, servants, or other diminished and stereotypical roles.)The show went on to be a smash hit and Nichols’ character portrayal served as a positive role model for many black kids who went on to achieve great success, such as actress/comedian Whoopi Goldberg and astronaut Ronald McNair, the second black person in space. Nichols even had the first interracial kiss ever shown on national television in America.By the way, her character was named “Uhura” and the show, Star Trek.

I see some "interesting" things every day as I live abroad in the beautiful and crazy shit show they call Asia, so much so that I sometimes forget to share them with you. I'm truly sorry about that.

Let me make it up to you by posting this gem. I saw this scantily clad gentleman jogging along the road in Thailand today, and had to sneak a photo. I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation why he was dressed like this, but I need your help coming up with #10.

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Norm Schriever

Norm Schriever is a best-selling author, expat, cultural mad scientist, and enemy of the comfort zone. He travels the globe, telling the stories of the people he finds, and hopes to make the world a little bit better place with his words.

Norm is a professional blogger, digital marketer for smart brands around the world, and writes for the Huffington Post, Hotels.com, and others.